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XTRACTS FROM A REPORT 



J. LANCASTER'S PROGRESS, 

FROM THE YEAR 1798.. 

■?7ITH THE 

^PORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE 

FOR THE YEAR 1810, 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN 

ADDRESS OF THE COMMITTEE 

rOR PROMOTING THE 

OYAL LANCASTERIAN SYSTEAI 

FOB THE 

EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 



J^EW-YORK: 

RE-PRINT£D EROM THE IJ^ONOON EDITION OE 1811, 



ADDRESS 

OE THE 

COMMITTEE 

FOR PROMOTING THE 

ROYAL LANCASTERIAN SYSTEM 

rOR THE 

EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 



X HE present address is made to those, who, possessing; 
the common feelings of humanity, wish to see all the 
good bestowed upon the lower orders of their species, 
of which their place in society admits. To all those 
who are not strangers to so humane a sentiment, it is an 
invitation to ask their own reason, whether the education 
of the poor is not an advantage of this description ; and 
lo afford us their aid, if we can prove to them that it 
will be attended with the most beneficial effects. 

We present to their consideration a plan for extend- 
ing to the poor the knowledge of reading, v/riting, and 
common arithmetic, more efficacious, and more econo- 
mical in respect to both time and money, than has hither- 
to been conceived to be within the sphere of possibility. 
It is a plan which, while it calls upon the superior and 
middling classes for nothing that admits the name of a 
sacrifice, promises to bestow upon them more able and 
more trust-worthy associates in all the circumstances of 
life, in which we are dependent upon the co-operation 
and fidelity of our subordinate brethren. It is probably 
not sufficiently considered to what an extent that de- 
pendence reaches ; the poor are our inmates, and our 



4 

guardians. They surround our tables, they surround 
our beds, they inhabit our nurseries. Our lives ; our 
properties ; the minds, and the health of our children, 
are to an inconceivable degree dependent upon their 
good or evil qualities. 

According to the system which Mr. Lancaster has not 
only established, but already reduced to practice, and of 
the practical efficacy of which the most satisfactory ex- 
perience has now been obtained, the children of the 
poor, before they are old enough to work, can be com- 
pletely taught the valuable acquirements of reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, at an expense, even in the metro- 
polis, of little more than five shillings per annum for 
each. It follows evidently from this most important 
fact, that by a combination requiring very slender ef- 
forts among the benevolent and public-spirited members 
of the community, those useful attainments may be ex- 
tended to the whole of the rising generation, and the pi- 
ous wish of the Sovereign be fully accomplished, 
« THAT EVERY POOR CHILD IN THE KING- 
DOM SHOULD BE ABLE TO READ THE BI- 
BLE." 

The points of utility naturally connected with this 
event are of two kinds, and both in the highest degree 
important. The first respects the purposes to which the 
laculties in question might be turned in the different of- 
fices which devolve upon the lower orders. The second 
respects the frame of mind which is created during, and 
by the acquirement. 

I. It is surely unnecessary to point out the innume- 
rable modes in which the faculties of reading, writing, 
and accounting, render the lower orders more useful co- 
adjutors to us on those occasions in which we stand in 
need of their services ; as domestics, as artisans, as ma- 
nufacturers, as persons intrusted with the guardianship, 
the transfer, the improvement of our property in a 
thousand ways. It is impossible that any man capable 
of recalling to his mind the number and importance of 



these occasions, can doubt of the prodigious advantage 
derived to society from so great an addition to the use- 
ful faculties of the operative members of the communi- 

2. But high as this advantage ought evidently to be 
ranked, it is still very inferior to that which arises from 
the frame of mind created by the discifiline of educa- 
tion ; by the habits of order, and of the love of rational 
esteem, which it is its nature to engender. Let us but 
reflect upon the different modes in which the time re- 
quired for education is spent by the children of the poor, 
when in a school like that of Mr. Lancaster's, and when 
at no school. If at no school, their time is for the most 
part at their own disposal ; it is spent with idle compa- 
nions like themselves, in all the disorderly courses of 
which idleness is the parent. Their life is, (upon their 
own scale,) an exact picture of that irregularity in the 
grown man, which produces almost all the unprofitable 
and dangerous members of society ; and it cannot, from 
the known laws of the human constitution, operate 
otherwise than as a most fruitful seminary of this un- 
happy description of persons. In a school of Mr. Lan- 
caster's, on the other hand, the children are inured to ha- 
bits of order and subordination. They are delivered 
from idleness, and from the daring and disorderly cour-> 
ses for which it gives a taste. They become habituated 
to strive with one another for superiority in useful arts, 
and to look for praise from the attainment of real ex- 
cellence. Who sees not that in the one course of train- 
ing there is every chance of rearing valuable members 
of society ? Who sees not that in the other, there is 
every chance of rearing pernicious ones ? 

For the particular methods pursued in Mr. Lancas- 
ter's plan of education, we must refer to his own publi- 
cations. One reguicition it is necessary to state. In or- 
der to obviate the scruples which parents and guardians 
attached to any particular form ot Christianity might feel 
with respect to the religious instruction imparted in 
A 2 



6 

Mr. Lancaster's schools ; and in order to extend the 
benefits of his plan of education to all the religious de- 
nominations of the community, instead of confining 
them to one or a few, it is an inviolable law to teach no- 
thing but what is the standard of belief to all Christians, 
THE Scriptures themselves. The children are not 
only taught to read the Bible, but are trained in the ha- 
bit of reading it, and are left entirely to the explanation 
and commentaries which their parents or friends may 
think it their duty to give them at home. 

In the Borough school alone 6,000 children have been 
educated, whose parents were of the poorest descrip- 
tion, and hitherto no instance has been noticed of any- 
one of these children being since charged with a crimi- 
nal offence in any court of justice. 

The patronage which Mr. Lancaster has received, 
particularly from their Majesties and the whole of the 
Royal Family, having contributed powerfully to the ge- 
neral adoption of his plans, schools are now established 
in every county of England ; several have been erect- 
ed in Scotland, and some in Ireland. As the advanta- 
ges of the system are more generally experienced, 
more numerous applications continue to be made to Mr. 
Lancaster for assistance in the formation of schools ; 
bringing along with them an additional burthen of ex- 
pense, and a demand for more extended means. It is 
sufficiently evident, that, in order to disseminate in the 
most perfect manner the benefits of the scheme, per- 
sons completely trained in its practical details, are high- 
ly necessary to be employed in conducting the first ope- 
rations of every newly-erected seminary. Among the 
youths who come under Mr. Lancaster's care, it is his 
object to select those who appear best calculated for his 
purpose, and to train them up to become school-masters 
and school-mistresses in the new establishments which 
are successively formed. The instances which have al- 
ready appeared, of youths of fourteen or fifteen years 
of age, conducting, with almost the regularity of a ma- 



chine, schools containing several hundreds of children, 
and imparting to them, with unexampled rapidity, the 
elements of education, afford the most gratifying proofs 
of the adaptation of the expedients to the great object in 
view. The maintenance, however, of the young per- 
sons intended for this office, during the time of their 
preparation, has been experienced to be the grand source 
of expense attending this institution, reaching far be- 
yond the unaided exertions of any individual to supply. 
In consideration of these circumstances, and in parti- 
cular of the importance of the last great article of ex- 
pense, the following Noblemen and gentlemen have 
agreed, in aid of the indefatigable and meritorious ex- 
ertions of the Founder of the system, to act as a com- 
mittee for obtaining subscriptions and superintending 
their application. 



PRESIDENTS. 

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD. 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD SOxMERVILLE 

FINAiVCE COMMITTEE. 



The Most Noble the Marquis of Lans- 

down. 
The Rijjlit Honourable Earl Moira. 
Tlie Ri;?lit Hon. Earl of Carysfort. 
William Adam, Esq. M. P. 
D.tvid Barclay. Esq. 
Gurnev Ban-lav, Esq. 
Edward wnibrahatr Bootle.Esq. M, F. 
Henrv Brougham, Esq. JNI. P. 
T. F.'Bii\ton, Esq. 
Thomas Clarkson, Esq. 
Honourable Robert Cliiford^ 
Leonard Cnrrie, Esq. 
Sir Henry En^lefield,B^Art. 
John Evans, Esq, 
Joseph FrA','Esq. 
Samuel Giirney, Esq. 
George Harrison, Esq. 
Samuel Hoare, jtm. Esq. 
Francis Horner, Esq. M. P. 
Leonard Horner, fisq. 
Luke Howard, Esq, 
Halsey Janson, Esq. 
John Pooley Kensington, Esq. 



Jonathan Wathan Phipps, Esq. 
• Janies Loch, Esq. 
. Jishii Maitland, Esq. M. P» 
I John Merivale, Esq. 
I James Mill, Esq. 
I Basil Montagu, Esq. 

Daniel Moore, Eiq. 
1 J. Petty Miispratl, E?q. 
; Richard Piiili|js, Esq. 
j William Philips. Esq. 

William Fostei- Reynolds, Est[< 

Thomas Reynolds, Esq. 

Samuel Rogers. Esq 

Sir Samuel Romillv. M. P. 

Jolm Smith, Esq . M. P. 

Joseph Sn.ith Esq. 

William Smiih, Esq. M. P. 

Honourable Cai>tain James Stanhope 

Henrj' Sterry. Esq, 

Joseph Fitzwilliam Vandercom, Esq. 

William Vau^'^han, Esq. 

.lolm Walker. Esq, 

Samuel AVhitbread, Esq. M. P. 

Samuel Woods, Esq- 



Trustees. William Allen, Esq. William Corston, Esq. Joseph Poster, Esq. Joseph 
Fox, Esq. John JaeksoB,Esq. M- P. Thomas Stur^e, Esq. 



Secretary. Joseph Fox, Esq* 



REPORT 

OF 

JOSEPH LANCASTER S PROGRESS 

FROM 

THE YEAR 1798. 



1 HE plan of the school at first was a fiay school ; the 
terms being fixed so low as to reduce the price of edu- 
cation one half for each child. The undertaking was 
began under the Hospitable roof of an affectionate pa- 
rent : my father gave the school-room, rent free, aiid af- 
ter fitting up the forms and desks myself, I had the 
pleasure, before I was eighteen, of having near ninety 
children under instruction, many of whom I educated 
free of expense. As the number of scholars continued 
to increase, I soon had occasion to rent larger premises, 
A SEASON of SCARCITY brought the wants of poor 
families closely under my notice : at this time a number 
of very liberal persons enabled me to feed the hungry 
children. In the course of this happy exertion, I be- 
came intimately acquainted with the state of many in- 
dustrious poor families, whose necessities had prevented 
the payment of the small price of their children's tui- 
tion, some of whom had accumulated arrears for many 
weeks. In every such case I remitted the arrears, and 
continued the children's instruction free of expense ; 
by this the number of free scholars was considerably in- 
creased ; and I soon found the necessities of the poor 
would fill the school with a great number, whose pa- 
rents were not able to afford a trifling pittance for their 
education. 



9 

The principle of school government and rewards 
which I had introduced, had a most beneficial influence 
on the neighbourhood. The children came in for edu- 
cation like flocks of sheep ; and the number so greatly 
increased, as to place me in that state of necessity, 
which is said to be the mother of invention. The old 
plan of education in which I had been practically con- 
versant, was daily proved inadequate to the purposes of 
instruction on a large scale. In every respect I had to 
explore a new and untrodden path. I had to decide 
whether to make the plan of education adequate to the 
number of applicants, or to dismiss the greater part of 
my scholars, who could not be instructed on the old sys- 
tem, and who, if discharged, must have remained in a 
state of mournful ignorance. My continual endeavours 
have been happily crowned with success, by enabling 
me at the period to which I allude, to extend my local 
institution, and to multiply /ac similes of it not only for 
this nation, but I trust for every other in the world. 
About 1804, the school doors were thrown open for all 
that would send their children, and have them educated 
freely : and on that plan the institution has continued 
ever since. It came to be demonstrated, that seven 
children could be edticated for a guinea, instead of one, 
as was first proposed. I wish my friends, in considering 
the progress of this plan, to remember, that 1 set out 
with some advantages, arising not from large funds, or 
many advisers, but from my peculiar situation and con- 
nexions. — A youth of eighteen, entering into my first 
pursuit with all the energy I was capable of — a father's 
table — free from expensive habits — a simple manner of 
living — and having no rent to pay — a stranger to the 
love of gain — relying on the blessing of Heaven to 
prosper my exertions. Thus circumstanced at that 
time, great as my difficulties have been, hard things 
have become easy, and rough ways plain before me. 

Into the hands of a few friends, now constituted my 
trustees, I have committed my financial concerns for 



10 

the three last years; and during that time, they have 
conducted all my affairs with the greatest good to the 
poor, by enabling me to spread the knowledge and prac- 
tice of the plan in the country. By superintending my 
financial concerns, public and private, in my absence? 
with liberal sacrifices of time and attention, as well as 
advances of money, every thing is now happily brought 
to that state of maturity, which will lead to the hope of 
public support to a system, which has already spread in 
part over the land, and may yet make a more extensive 
progress. Thus may the blessings of education be dif- 
fused over the land, and like the showers of heaven, 
convert the desert and the wilderness into a fruitful 
field. 

After spending above fourteen years in this useful 
pursuit, I have the pleasure of seeing the parent insti- 
tution in very high prosperity, of witnessing the exten- 
sion of its benefits to tens of thousands of poor children 
in the nation, and of anticipating its continued useful- 
ness by the system there invented to the very end of 
time. The delight it has daily afforded this very sea- 
son to large numbers of persons who have visited it» 
has been of the most gratifying nature. Nor can I omit 
one pleasing circumstance. During six weeks of the 
present year, I have been suffering under a rheumatic 
illness, originally contracted from travelling by night 
after lecturing. At the beginning of the year the num- 
ber of new schools to be organized was such, as to re- 
quire the attendance of every master I could set at li- 
berty. Among others the master of the Royal Free 
School, Borough Road, was sent to Chichester, to a 
school for three hundred children, opened under the 
patronage of the Duke and Duchess of Richmond ; and 
in his absence I took charge of his own school for him. 
At this time illness rather suddenly confined me to my 
bed, and the monitor-general of the school, Maurice 
Cross, an interesting boy of fourteen, took charge of, 
and governed the school in a most pleasing and gratify- 



tliLiJ llMkUb^ifiK^M ^ 



n 

ing manner. Many visitors came to see the school 
while I was confined to my bed, and expressed the hij^h- 
est approbation of the steadiness and ability of the lad, 
who on such an occasion could so effectually supply my 
place. 

The effects of this institution on the morals of youth, 
in training good members of society, have been tried, 
and proved most happily successful. 1 cannot pass a 
quarter of a mile in any part of Southwark, without 
meeting many lads who address me in accents of the 
most cordial welcome ; who are growing up to maturi- 
ty, and going on happily in that state of life for which 
they appeared destined. I feel among them the glow 
of parental affection, when I see them with their baskets 
or loads on their shoulders in the character of honest 
and worthy labourers or artificers, having contented 
cheerfulness and steadiness united in their character. 

The general conduct of these youth is such, as to 
prove the falsehood of the degrading assertion made by 
the partizans of ignorance, that the poor of this land of 
liberty are necessarily doomed to the drudgery of daily 
labour, and that teaching them to write and cypher 
vi^ould only make them discontented with their lot. I 
have instructed thousands, and have the happiness of 
observing among them the most contented and the most 
worthy members of society. 

A great number of persons have been instructed in 
the system at the Royal Free School. By many of 
these its benefits have been diffused over the nation. 
From this center, instruction to the poor has flowed 
through the empire, and continues to do so with more 
advantage than ever. 

During a severe illness, which, in 1809, confined me 
to my bed some weeks at Bristol, the master of that 
school, who had been educated from an early age in my 
own, attended me in all my painful illness, with the 
most filial affection. A boy, only thirteen years of age, 
kept school for him with so great success, that when my 



12 

recovery enabled me to return to town, being in a feeble 
state, I required the master to accompany me, and dur- 
ing a week's absence, this lad was sole governor of the 
school. This boy had obtained his knowledge of read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic, in the Bristol school, in less 
than eighteen months ; on coming in, he was in one of 
the lowest classes, and at the end of twelve months he 
excelled every boy in the school, and had become moni- 
tor-general. The committee visited the school in the 
master's absence, and found this excellent lad, to use a 
school-boy's expression, " king of the castle." rhis 
order and excellent conduct did not pass unrewarded. 
The committee subscribed am-ong themselves a sum of 
money, to make him a present of a new silver watch, 
with a suitable inscription. Upon my recovery, 1 re- 
turned to Bristol, and again lectured there ; and when 
speaking on the subject of rewards, I gave the lad his 
watch in the name of the committee, specifying his con- 
duct. He received his prize with joy amidst the plau- 
dits of eight hundred persons, among whom his father 
and mother were not the least happy ; and who but for 
the school at Bristol, would have been unable to educate 
him. 

It not being judged proper at that time to enlarge the 
family in Southwark, I boarded and clothed him in Bris- 
tol for twelve months ; after which 1 received him home 
to the Borough. In a short time he was placed as mas- 
ter at a school at Southgate, built and supported by my 
friend, John Walker, Esq. to extend the blessmg of 
education to the poor children in that neighbourhood ; 
my worthy friend speaks in the most pleasing manner of 
the ability and good conduct of this amiable and excel- 
lent boy. In this statement is the pleasing history of 
a boy, whose talents would have most likely been buried 
under the rubbish of ignorance, had not the facilities of 
this system developed them ; this, however, is but one 
proof of many which miiyht be adduced of the i^ood 
done by it. An ignorant lad conjes to school in 1807, in 



13 

about two years after he is able to conduct the lustilQ- 
tion in which he obtained his learning ; in three years, 
after a little instruction in the Borough Road, he proves 
himself qualified to conduct a large school, to the satis- 
faction of his immediate patron, and the delight of all 
that visit it. 

To bring all the instances I might advance, would 
nil a volume, instead of a brief report. I must not, 
however, omit one lad, James George Penney. About 
the year 1805, this boy attended the school in South- 
'»vark ; he was fatherless, and his mother poor. At that 
time he would often come to school in the morning, and 
remain there till night without any dinner; this was 
soon discovered by his feeling school-fellows, some of 
whom dried up the tears which hunger occasioned, and 
supplied his wants by a contribution of bread and meat, 
which some of them were pleased to call " a parish din- 
ner.** This circumstance coming to my knowledge, and 
knowing him to be an excellent boy, I took him into my 
house. At first he appeared dull from habitual depres- 
sion. The close of the year before last, he was sent in- 
to Shropshire, and spent about six months there, in the 
house of a most liberal and excellent clergyman. The 
first village school that he organized was for 250 chil- 
dren ; and such was the progress made by the scholars, 
that, in one case, the clergyman was applied to by a 
man to inform him if such improvement could be made, 
by any thing short of witchcraft. This worthy boy did 
not leave that part of the nation without organizing 
schools for near 1,000 children, which number is likely 
to be doubled in the ensuing summer, many persons of 
influence in that part of the country having been con- 
vinced of the great good to be obtained by the univer- 
sal diffusion of knowledge among the lower orders of 
society. This lad is now settled at Bath, over a school 
of 300 children ; and my accounts from Sir Horace 

B 



14 

Mann, Bart, the President, speak highly of the state of 
the school and conduct of the master. 

An excellent lad, not fourteen, has just materially 
aided the organization of the school at Coventry for 400 
children. The committee, to express their sense of his 
services, have voluntarily allowed for his board, &c. at 
the rate of 60/. per annum : this is not quoted as a pre- 
cedent, but as a proof of the boy*s activity and merits. 
A boy of seventeen keeps a school at Newbury for 200 
children ; another at Chichester, about eighteen, will 
soon have 300. These facts prove, that this system pos* 
sesses the power of accomplishing considerable good 
with small means. 

A young man just turned of twenty, and educated in 
the Borough Road, conducted a school at Bradley before 
he was sixteen, and had the thanks of the Duke of So- 
merset for his excellent conduct and usefulness. After 
this, he organized schools in Liverpool, and several other 
places with reputation and credit. He sometime ago 
settled in Birmingham with a school of 400 children, 

which it is hoped will soon be extended to a thousand 

The instances of real and extensive usefulness among 
my young men and boys are so numerous and interest- 
ing, that I purpose to take the first leisure opportunity 
to publish them as a sort of history of this system. 

In the Girls' School, Borough Road, a new manner of 
teaching needle-work has been invented. As the parti- 
culars will soon be published by my sister and niece, I 
shall only say, that one mistress may teach any number 
of scholars with no more trouble than attends my system 
as to tuition in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and 
that it is not likely the least difficulty can arise, in find- 
ing abundant materials to employ three hundred thou- 
sand girls, if so many were to be placed immediately in 
new schools, and this at so cheap a rate as scarcely to 
deserve the name of expense. 



15 

Before this Report is closed, I must beg leave to re- 
fiiark, that, in a subject in which I am so personally con> 
cerned, it was almost impossible to avoid the appearance 
of egotism ; but I trust, connected as it is with details 
necessary for me to give, that every defect in the man- 
ner will be overlooked, when the value of the object in 
view is considered. 

I have the happiness to say, I have abundant docu- 
ments to prove the truth of my reports, and the utility 
of my lectures in the country, are fully evinced by the 
public and official resolutions of many of the leading 
cities and towns in the empire. 

I shall now subjoin an extract from the minutes of 
the Trustees, and cannot forbear expressing my hope 
that this system of education, which has now proved it- 
self to be of national importance, will, by the liberal 
sanction of a British public, be made a powerful engine 
for improving the morals, and thus promoting the happi^ 
ness of my country. Joseph Lancaster. 



Extract from the Minutes of the Trustees, 
March 2Sth, 1811. 

" The Trustees examined the vouchers produced 
by Joseph Lancaster relative to the expenditure which 
had taken place prior to the formation of the Committee 
in 1808, and have the satisfaction to find that they are 
perfectly correct, and most satisfactorily account for the 
said expenditure ; and they find, that during the time 
that they have had the care of his affairs, he has expend- 
ed above 1,000/. the produce of his lectures, in travel- 
ling, and preparing for the same ; that he has main- 
tained himself during this period by the profits of his 
publications and printing office ; and in having educated 
above 6,000 children free of expense, at the lowest rate 
of payment, the sum of 7,500/. has been given to the 
education of the poor." 



REPORT 

OF 

THE FINANCE COMMITTEE 

or THE 

INSTITUTION 

FOR PROMOTING THE 

ROYAL LANCASTERIAN SYSTEM 

BOR THE 

liDUCATION OF THE POOR, 

TO THE 

GENERAL MEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS, 

MAY 11, 1811. 

An presenting the following Report of the Royal Lan- 
casterian Institution, for promoting the education of the 
poor, the Finance Committee trust that the subscribers 
will view with pleasure the success which now attends 
this most important undertaking. 

It is well known, that by the improvements made by 
Mr. Lancaster in the art of communicating instruction, 
the business of education is reduced to a perfect system, 
and benefits similar to those which have attended the 
establishment of the Royal Free School in the Borough 
Road, may be extended to every town or populous dis- 
trict. The principal requisites are, spacious school- 
rooms, and school-masters who have been instructed on 
the principles of the system. 

The foi-mation of new schools, and the providing of 
qualified teachers, are the objects which have chiefly 



17 

engrossed the attention of Mr. Lancaster during the 
past year. For this purpose he has given public lec- 
tures, descriptive of his plan, in many parts of the king- 
dom where the establishment of schools has been desir- 
ed or much needed. He has taken different journies^ 
lecturing in the towns lying in a particular route. 

In England he has lectured at Reading, Newbury, 
Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Chichester, Portsmouth, Nor- 
wich, Ipswich, Bury, Yarmouth, Lodden, Nottingham, 
Northampton, Leicester, Loughborough, Wellinbo- 
rough, Coventry, Derby, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, 
Shields, Alnwick, Berwick, and Carlisle. In Scotland 
he was received with much approbation, and delivered 
lectures in Edinburgh and Glasgow, at which cities, as 
well as in most of the other places, committees have 
been formed for raising subscriptions for the erecting of 
school-rooms. It is hoped that in Ireland also the plan 
will shortly be fully introduced ; a large school-room has 
been built in Belfast, and the Committee have applied 
for a school-master. The following concise statement 
will exhibit the ardour, with which Mr. Lancaster pur- 
sues the benevolent object of promoting the education 
of the lower classes of the people. In the year 1810, he 
took seven journies, travelling in the whole 3775 miles ; 
he delivered 67 lectures to audiences composed of 
23,500 persons, the effect of which lectures has been, that 
50 new schools are founded, in Avhich not less than 14 
or 15,000 children will be educated. These lectures are 
attended by a double good, a knowledge of the plan of 
instruction is diffused, and an opportunity is afforded to 
the richer public to display their liberality, by adopting 
the system for the benefit of their poorer neighbours ; 
and it is truly gratifying to behold the spirit of chris- 
tian philanthropy, which animates all ranks of the com- 
munity, in their endeavours to chase the clouds of igno- 
rance from our highly favoured island, 
B 2 



18 

To provide school-masters for the many schools 
which have been opened during the past year, and to 
prepare others for the schools expected to be opened. in 
the course of the present, has been an arduous task- 
It has been highly gratifying to the Committee, whilst 
they have most anxiously exerted themselves in solicit- 
ing the necessary funds, to defray the very essential, but 
expensive part of the institution, in boarding and cloth- 
ing the young people under training for school-masters, 
that the labours of Mr. Lancaster have been attended 
with so much success; having received the sanction not 
only of the public in general, but also of characters the 
most distinguished and exalted. On his arrival at Aln- 
wick, he was invited to the Castle by his Grace the 
Duke of Northumberland, who received him in the most 
condescending manner, and stated his intention of build- 
ing a school-room at Alnwick, and bearing all the fu- 
ture charges of the school. '1 he foundation of this 
school was laid on the late Anniversary of His Majesty's 
Accession, and will shortly be opened ; his Grace has 
desired Mr. Lancaster to furnish him with a qualified 
school-master. 

The Royal Free School, in the Borough Road, was 
visited last autumn by their Royal Highnesses the Dukes 
of Kent and Cambridge, who examined with great atten- 
tion the operation of a system of truly national import- 
ance, exhibiting the stages of intellectual improvement, 
through several hundred children, from that of the child 
who is learning to repeat the letters of the alphabet, to 
that of the most advanced in the school, who have ac- 
quired a competent knowledge of reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. The attention of their Royal Highnesses to 
the children, together with the commendations bestow- 
ed on those who excelled, at once excited them to re- 
newed diligence, and created an affectionate regard to 
the family of our beloved Sovereign, producing in the 
3/oiithfui mind the most lively feelings of loyalty^ 



19 

The school was likewise visited very lately by his 
Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, who inspected 
the whole system with the greatest care, and departed 
highly gratified with the truly interesting spectacle. 

His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, has set a most 
important example, by introducing the Lancasterian 
system into the army, having attached a school to his 
own regiment. The school consists of the children of 
the privates, and amounts to 2 20 ; a young man, a ser- 
geant in the regiment, was trained for the school-mas- 
ter at the Borough Road, and the school was instituted 
at Maiden, in Essex, where the regiment was then quar- 
tered. Great credit is due to Lieutenant-colonel 
M'Leod, and the other officers, who co-operated with 
their Royal Commander in his benevolent design. The 
regiment lately removed its quarters to Dunbar, where 
the establishment was carried on. Mr Lancaster on 
his journey to Scotland found it in an excellent state of 
order. By permission of the Duke, a number of these 
boys went to Edinburgh, to illustrate the system in the 
lecture delivered there by Mr. Lancaster. The regi- 
ment is now quartered at Stirling ; and the school, at 
the request of the magistrates, is kept in the Guild-hall 
of Stirling Castle, many of the town's children partici- 
pating in its benefits. The Committee have great plea- 
sure in adding, that the commanders of several military 
depots, and also of militia regiments, have applied to 
Mr. L. for assistance in forming schools. In last March, 
Mr. L. opened a school at Windsor, established by Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Newdigate, for the children of the pri- 
vates of the King's own regiment of Staffordshire mili- 
tia ; and it is hoped, that these examples will speedily 
be followed by all commanders. On joining the Duke 
of Kent's regiment, if a recruit is found incapable of 
reading, he is sent to the school, and as a powerful sti- 
mulus to exertion, those who make a good proficiency 



20 

in learning, are put down as duplicate non-commission- 
ed officers. 

Of the new schools lately formed, that at Fenny Strat* 
ford, Bedfordshire, merits particular notice, on account 
of some circumstances deserving to be recorded for ge- 
neral imitation. 

The Lancasterian school at Wobourn, established by 
his Grace the Duke of Bedford, had attracted the atten- 
tion of a few individuals residing at Fenny Stratford ; 
who having visited this school, and witnessed its bene- 
fits, were so impressed with a sense of the value and im- 
portance of the system, as to determine upon the esta- 
blishment of one for the youth of their own neighbour- 
hood. But these worthy men were not rich; no suita- 
ble place for a school-room was to be found, and they 
could not expect to raise sufficient funds by way of gift, 
equal to the expense of building a school-room. This 
difficulty was obviated by raising subscriptions in the 
way of loan, in shares of ten pounds each, to receive in- 
terest for their money as the rent of the place. The 
shares are transferrable, and may be paid off as the Com- 
mittee may be enabled to do it by future donations ; but 
the building is never to be appropriated to any but the 
original purpose. 

The spirited conduct of these few individuals, soon 
attracted the notice of the neighbouring gentry and cler- 
gy, several of whom have given donations and annual 
subscriptions to a considerable amount ; and the insti- 
tution now bids fair to meet with success equal to its 
merit. 

On New Year's Day of the present year 1811, schools 
were opened at Reading for 400 boys, at Chichester for 
200, at Brecon for 150, and at Coventry for 300 ; many 
other schools are in a state of forwardness, and will be 
opened soon. 

The Lancasterian system of education being calculat- 
ed for universal adoption, it has been an essential point 



21 

ivith Mr. L. and his friends, to extend its benefits to 
foreign parts ; and as education must be considered the 
parent of all civilization, Africa has engaged a consider- 
able portion of their attention : with this view a young 
man, a native of Africa, brought to this country by a 
person who had purchased him in the West Indies, hav- 
ing expressed to a gentleman his fears, that if taken 
back by his master, he would be again sold and fall into 
slavery, he was humanely informed by this gentleman, of 
the rights he could exercise in Britain ; on which he 
quitted his master. The case of this youth having been 
represented to Mr. L. and it appearing that he possessed 
good abilities, it was resolved that he should be admit- 
ted into the house, and trained for a school-master, in 
the hope that, on a future occasion, he might be useful 
in this capacity in his native country, and be the means 
of establishing the Lancasterian system, amongst the 
hitherto oppressed inhabitants of Africa. The talents 
and perseverance of this youth raised the most sanguine 
expectations of his future usefulness. It is therefore 
with grief the Committee are obliged to report, that all 
those expectations have vanished with respect to his in- 
strumentality ; as after a short illness, he died suddenly, 
in the month of August, in consequence of the breaking 
of a large abscess which had formed in his lungs. 

Depressing as this melancholy event has been, the 
Committee have to mention with much satisfaction, that 
the system is still likely to be extended to Africa, as the 
missionaries Wilhelm and Klein, who are destined to 
that part of the globe, under the patronage of the Socie- 
ty for Missions to Africa and the East, have received 
the most ample instruction, by a daily attendance at the 
Borough Road school for near two months ; and there 
is no doubt, but that by their zealous exertions, much 
good will be done to the children of the natives of Afri- 
ca, who it is understood are exceedingly desirous to be 
instructed in what they term, " the white man's book." 



\ , 



^22 

The Committee cannot forbear expressing their ad- 
miration of the plan of this society, and they trust that, 
by the formation of schools, a sure foundation will be 
laid for much progress in the civilization of Africa. 

Beside the instruction of these Missionaries, who 
seem to be men of considerable intelligence and ability, 
the Committee have thought it their duty to seek for 
native Africans who may be qualified as school-mas- 
ters ; and to realize this very desirable object, they have, 
by a communication to his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Gloucester, Patron, and to the Directors of the Africau 
Institution, oifered to board and educate, at the expense 
of the Lancasterian Institution, two African youths, of 
good abilities, to be selected by the Directors, in order 
that they may be qualified as school-masters for the sta- 
tions of the institution in Africa. 

It is with much satisfaction the Committee have heard 
\ of the increased extension of the Lancasterian system 

\ in North America ; in addition to the schools establish- 

ed in New- York and Philadelphia, accounts have been 
received of the opening of one at Boston ; and lately d 
very respectable application has been made to Mr. L. 
from a society formed for the education of the poor in 
George-Town, Maryland : this society has requested a 
suitable school-master, that they may be assured of the 
perfection of the plan. 

They are also happy to be able to announce, that 
there is a prospect of the introduction of this system 
into South America. The deputies from Caraccas, in 
company with General Miranda, visited the Royal Free 
School, and have left this country with the intention of 
sending over two young men to be instructed by Mr. L. 
The most pleasing intelligence has been received from 
Antigua of the success which has attended the efforts 
of a benevolent individual, who had formed schools on 
this plan for above 900 souls. The Committee judged 
it expedient to present this gentleman with all the re- 



23 

i(Uisite lessons, &c. for the complete out-fit of two 
schools. 

Ail these circumstances tend strongly to encourage 
the Committee to continue their exertions in support of 
a discovery, which cannot fail to be a blessing to the 
whole hum.an race. 

By the statement of receipts and disbursements, it 
will be seen, that the income of the institution, is by no 
means adequate to the unavoidable expenses of the es- 
tablishment. The Committee have to acknowledge with 
gratitude the very handsome donation of 523/. from a 
member of the Society of Friends ; and also the liberal 
donation of 200/. sent in a letter to one of their num- 
ber, John Jackson, Esq. M. P. with the signature A. D. 
K. These munificent gifts enabled them to extend ma- 
ny of the advantages of the institution, particularly that 
of taking into the house twelve lads of promising abili- 
ties, in addition to those already in the establishment, 
making in the whole, thirty young people to be trained 
as school-masters : this expensive part of the institution 
must be regarded as one of its main springs, because it 
is self-evident, that new schools cannot be properly or- 
ganized unless there are persons duly qualified to su- 
perintend them. 

The British System of Education having, under the 
fostering patronage of our beloved Sovereign, and his 
illustrious family, become an object of national concern, 
Mr. Lancaster has found it expedient that his establish- 
ment, which for the last three years has been privately 
aided by a small Financial Committee, should now be- 
come a more public institution, with the aid of a kirge 
Financial Committee, composed of persons whose rank, 
talents, and public and private worth, will ensure the 
most public confidence, and give effect to these plans 
for promoting the general education of the poor. 

In concluding this Report, the Committee think it in- 
cumbent on them to subjoin the following extract from 



> 



24 

their minutes, which gives a full exposition of the actu- 
al state of the finances of the institution ; and they 
trust, that when the public see in what manner this 
work, so important to the welfare of the country, has 
been carried on, that they will generously come for- 
ward, not only to promote tK^- extension of the design, 
by an annual v^ubscription, to the support of school-mas- 
ters in training, but also by their donations, to exonerate 
those Gentlemen, who, by their timely and liberal ad- 
vances, have not only preserved this system from ruin, 
but have contributed to its extension, and secured its es- 
tablishment. 

" The Trustees, in conformity to a minute of the Fi- 
nance Committee, of Dec. 17, 1810, desiring them to 
lay before the Committee on some future occasion a 
statement of the present condition of Mr. Lancaster's 
affairs, specifying what sums have been advanced by 
themselves and others, for the promotion of his plans ; 
report, 

" That when, in 1808, they first examined into his 
affairs, and the nature of his embarrassments, they were 
exceedingly gratified to find that his debts originated 
from engagements entered into, with different trades- 
men, for accomplishing the various objects of rendering 
his system for the education of ihe poor, an institution 
for national benefit. The principal of these were for 
Bricklayer, Timber-merchant, Carpenter, Type-Foun- 
der, Stationer, Furniture, and other necessaries for such 
an establishment. They found, that although there 
were at that time in the family twenly-four persons to 
be boarded, there was scarcely a debt owing to any 
Butcher ; for the family, during a considerable time, 
had only enjoyed the taste of Butcher's meat, when an 
occasional donation at the school furnished them with 
the means of purchasing a small quantity. 

" The family had subsisted chiefly on bread and milk ; 
and to the honour of a Baker in the neighbourhood, to 



'''1 

whom there was a considerable debt owing, it must "be 
mentioned, that when a degree of surprise was manifest- 
ed at having given so large a credit, he replied, ' The 

* good which Mr. Lancaster has done to the poor of this 
•^ neighbourhood is suchi^that as long as I have a loaf 

* left, I will give the half of it, to enabjp him to con- 

* tinue iuch beneficial exertions.' 

" At the time the Trustees undertook the finances, 
from a variety of causes the annual subscriptions were 
very much reduced, so that they not only had to dis- 
charge the debts, but also to provide the means of de- 
fraying the current expenses of the board, clothing, &c. 
of the institution ; this has been regularly done weekly 
from that time to the present mom^ent. 

" With a view to provide a sum of money to enable 
them to meet all these difficulties, they solicited from 
their friends in the form of a loan to Mr. Lancaster, sub- 
scriptions of 100/. each, by which they received the sum 
of 4000/. (a list of the subscribers is annexed.) Of 
this sum 500/. have since been remitted by the following 
Gentlemen : John Maitland, Esq. M. P. Richard Gur- 
ney, Esq. Hudson Gurney, Esq. Joseph Gurney, Esq. 
and Henry Sterry, Esq. having converted their loan into 
gifts. 

" It appeared very evident to the Trustees, that this 
great national work would be materially retarded if they 
confined themselves to the actual subscriptions they 
could at that time obtain from the public ; and there- 
fore, in addition to the necessary advances which had 
been made to defray the original debts, they have advan- 
ced from time to time sums of money to make up the 
deficiencies of subscriptions to the amount of 57721. 4s. 

" During the time the Trustees have thus assisted 
Mr. Lancaster, he has been enabled to diffuse a know- 
ledge of his plan, by giving public lectures through the 
country, which has caused the establishment of schools, 

C 



26 

and the consequent education of many thousand chil- 
dren. 

" At the present moment a respectable annual sub- 
scription is raised, amounting to about lOOOl. ; but this 
is by no means adequate to tljie current expenses ; as 
the Trustees find by the experience of past years, and 
especially in consequence of a recent enlargement of 
the family, which had become absolutely necessary, in 
order to meet the increasing demands for masters for 
country schools, that a sum in annual subscriptions of 
not less than 3000/. will be necessary to diffuse the ad- 
vantages of this plan of education through the whole 
•ountry." 

From this extract it will be seen, that since the year 
1808, when the gentlemen, who were constituted by 
Mr. Lancaster his Trustees, undertook the superintend- 
ence of the finances, the debt of the institution has been 
increased nearly 3000/. This fact will satisfactorily 
account for the embarrassment under which the Trus- 
tees found Mr. L. The Trustees, convinced of the im- 
portant moral benefits which must result from the gene- 
ral education of the community, felt it to be their duty 
to anticipate the benevolence of the country, by afford- 
ing the aid so indispensably necessary to render the 
system effective. 

The Committee cannot close their Report without 
recommending the disinterested conduct of the Trustees 
to the generous consideration of the public ; and they 
trust that the time is not far distant, when means will 
be provided for the full accomplishment of the pious 
■wish of our venerable Sovereign, " that every poor 
child in the kingdom may be taught to read the Bible." 



SUBSCRIBERS 



TO 



MM, ]L4NC ASTER'S LOAN. 



Duke of Bedford . . . 
Lord Somerville • . . 
Dyi.e!. Alexander, Esq. . 
William Alkr., Esq. . . 
Sir Francis Baring, Bart. 
J. a. B>-van, Esq. . . 
Wihon Birkbf ck, Esq. . 
Astley Coopi r, Esq. . , 
William Corston, Esq. . 
William Dillwyn, Esq. . 
Joscryh Foster, Esq. . . 
Joseph Fox, Esq. . . . 

John Fox, Esq 

William Fry, Esq. . . . 
Joseph Fry.E^q. . . . 
Samuel yralton,Esq. . . 

• Ricliard Gmney, Esq. 

• Hudson Gurney, Esq. . 

• Josepli Gurney, Esq. . 



100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
ICO 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
loo 
100 
100 
100 f; 



Mrs. Anna Hanbury 
Anthony Home. Esq. . 
J.<hn Hull, Esq ... 
Jolm Jackson. Esq. M. P. , 
Kdward .1:ins..n, Esq. . 
J. Pooley Kensin. t-.>r), Esq 
■ J<;hn r.Iaiilaiul, Esq M 1 
Ebeiieze- Maitliiid, Esq. 
Daniel Moore. Esq. . . 
Sir George Mackenzie, Bart. 
Robert Owen, Esq. 



Dr. Pope., 

Josh ui Reeve, Esq. . . 

Saiauel Rogers. Esq. • 

Joseph Smith, Esq. . , 
* Henry Sterry, Esq. 
H. Thornton, Esq M. P. 

John Walker, Esq. . . 

John Wakefield. Esq. . 



£ 

100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
lOO 
lOO 
200 
100 
100 
100 
200 
100 



By thfise Gentlemen the loan has been remitted as gift. 



ROYAL BRITISH 

SYSTEM or EDUCATION 



At a very numerous and highly respectable Meeting 
of the Subscribers and Friends of the KOYaL LAN- 
CASTERIAN SYSTEM for the EDUCATION of the 
POOR, held at the Free-mason's Taverji, Saturday, 
May 11,1811 ; 

His grace the DUKE of BEDFORD in the Chair : 

On the Motion of his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Kent, and seconded by his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Sussex, 

Resolved unanimously, That from a consideration of 
the salutary effects of Knowledge upon the human mind, 
the habits of order which education creates, and the per- 
sonal acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures which it 
produces ; this Meeting anticipates from the general 
Education of the Poor, the h<^ppiest results to society, 
by the diminution of crimes, and in the promotion of 
the usefulness of the great body of the people. 

On the Motion of his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Kent, seconded by his Royal Highness the Duke of Sus- 
sex, 

Resolved, That the System of Education invented by 
Mr. Joseph Lancaster, enables one Master to teach 
reading, writiiig, and arithmetic, to any number of chil- 
dren, by the agency of his scholars alone ; a.t the sirwe 
time that the most perft^ci state of di cipiine is preserv- 
ed ; to which must be added, the reduction of the price 
of instruction, according to the number educated, to lOs. 
7s. and even 3s. 6d. per annum for each ciiild, rendering 
it in the whole, m invention vvoilby of tb,e moct distin- 
guished approbation and universal adoption. 
C 2 



30 

On the Motion of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and se- 
conded by Wm. Adam, Esq. M. P. 

Resolved, That it is with the most lively satisfaction 
this raeetin£^ contemplates the sanction and support 
which the Lancastenan System for the Education of tiie 
Poor, has received from their Majesties, and every 
branch of the Royal Family ; and his Royal Highness 
the Duke of Kent is most respectfully solicited to re- 
present to the whole of the Royal Family, the high 
sense which this Meeting entertains of a patronage, no 
less important to the prosperity of the undertaking, than 
indicative of the aifection of the House of Brunswick, 
for the truest interests of the people. 

On the Motion of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and se- 
conded by Lord Keith, 

Resolved, That Mr Adam be requested by this Meet- 
ing, humbly and respectfully to express to his Royal 
Highness the Prince Regent, the sense which they en- 
tertain of the gracious communication his Royal High- 
ness has been pleased to make to them, and their grati- 
tude for his continued countenance and support to the 
Lancasterian System of education. 

On the Motion of the Marquis of Lansdowne, second- 
ed by Lord Keith, 

Resolved, That the respectful thanks of this Meeting 
be presented to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent? 
whose friendship to soldiers' children has been shov/n in 
that princely liberality with which his Royal Highness 
has established a school in the Royals, as Colonel of that 
Regiment, and set an example which, it is hoped, will 
be universally followed by Military Commanders, and 
thereby promote the welfare, and do honour to the cha- 
racttr of the Biitish Army. 

That the Thanks of this Meeting be presented to 
Lieutenant Colonel M' Leod, and the Officers of the 4th 
battalion of the Royals, for the zeal and beneyolence 



31 

with which they have superintended a Royal Lancaster! » 
an School in that Regiment. 

That his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent be res- 
pectfully requested to communicate the same. 

On the Motion of the Duke of Kent, and seconded by 
the Duke of Sussex, 

Resolved, That the respectful Thanks of this Meet- 
ing be presented to his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Gloucester, for the zeal he has manifested in promoting 
the Lancasterian System of Education, and particularly 
for having placed a number of the youth of his regiment 
under this excellent mode of instruction* 

On the Motion of the Duke of Kent, seconded by the 
Duke of Sussex, 

Resolved, that the disinterestedness of Mr. Lancaster, 
in inventing and carrying into effect the Royal Lancas- 
terian System of education, merits the approbation and 
support of the^ilmpire, and that the Thanks of this 
Meeting be presented to him for the same. 

On the Motion of his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Kent, seconded by his Royal Highness the Duke of Sus- 
sex, 

Resolved, That by a Report presented to this Meet- 
ing, it appears that, during the last four years, Mr. Lan- 
caster has taken numerous journies to diffuse a know- 
ledge of his plan in the country ; that he has at conside- 
rable personal expense, travelled near 7,000 miles, lec- 
tured 140 times to different audiences, consisting of 
near 50,uOO persons, in which he has given such an im- 
petus to public benevolence, that more than 26,000 chil- 
dren have been provided with instruction, and many 
thousand pounds have been raised for building and fit- 
ting up school-rooms and supporting schools ; for all 
which beneficial exertions he ought to be considered a 
public benefcictor, and is entitled to the thanks and supj 
port of the nation in general. 

On the motioa of Wm. Smith, Usq. M. P, 



32 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Meeting are here- 
by given to the Mayors, Magistrates, Clergy, and Gen- 
try, of those Cities and Towns in England and Scot- 
land, who have contributed to the extension of the Roy- 
al British System of Education, by granting to Mr. Lan- 
caster the use of their Town Guild, or Country Hallsy 
for the purpose of detailing the particulars of his plan, 
and that the Magistrates of Stirling be particularly dis- 
tinguished, who permitted their Guild Hall to be used 
as a temporary school-room for the military quartered 
there. 

On the motion of Francis Horner, Esq. M. P. 

Resolved, That the moral effects of the Royal British 
System of Education are apparent, from the important 

fact, THAT OF FULL 7,G00 CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN 
INSTRUCTED AT THE RoYAL FrEE SchOOL, BoROUGH 

Road, no instance has been known of any one of 
these having been charged with any criminal of- 
FENCE IN ANY Court of Justice. 

On the motion of E. W. Bootle, Esq. M. P. 

Resolved, That the fact publicly stated by Mr. Lan- 
caster, that of the 7,000 Children educated at the Bo- 
rough Road by him, no one of them has been made a 
Proselyte to his peculiar Religious opinions, affords a 
gratifying proof that every Religious denomination may 
cordially unite in the Education of the Poor, upon the 
broad and liberal basis of this institution. 

On the motion of the Hon. James Ambercromby, M. 
P. 

Resolved, That the energies of the Royal British or 
Lapxasterian System, in developing the talents, and eli- 
citing the fdculiies of youth for their own and their 
countrv's good, have been remarkably displayed in seve- 
ral ! oys of not more than 13 or 14 years of age, having 
superintended the Borough Road and other Schools 
with as much fcciiiiy as the Master himself. 

Oil the motion of Henry Brougham, Esq. M. P. 



33 

Resolved, That in order to extend the benefits of the 
Royal British System of Education to all parts of the 
Empire, and to render it in the largest sense a National 
Good, it is requisite that a considerable number of youth 
of both Sexes be trained in the practice of the Institu- 
tion, for the purpose of undertaking the charge of 
Schools. 

On the motion of Henry Brougham, Esq. M. P. 

Resolved, That as the Annual Subscriptions to the In- 
stitution are at present by no means adequate to defray 
the Charges of Board, Lodging, and Clothing, of a suffi- 
cient number of Youths, (expenses which, in the training 
of them to the period of their fitness to take the charge 
of Schools, are unavoidable,) the Friends to this cause 
are solicited to become Annual Subscribers, of Sums 
from One to Ten Guineas. 

On the motion of his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Kent, and seconded by his Royal Highness the Duke of 
Sussex, 

Resolved, That from a Report presented to this Meet- 
ing, it appears, that the Donations and Subscriptions re- 
ceived by Mr Lancaster, prior to the year 1808, had 
fallen short of the actual charges for the erection of 
suitable Buildings, and the maintenance of intended 
School-Masters, and that a considerable Debt has been 
incurred ; for which the Gentlemen since appointed Mr. 
Lancaster's Trustees, actuated by an earnest desire to 
prevent the failure of so important a work, and relying 
on the future support of a liberal and beneficent Pub- 
lic, not only rendered themselves responsible, but took 
measures for enlarging the operation of the System. 
• On the Motion of the Duke of Kent, and seconded by 
the Duke of Sussex, 

Resolved, That from a consideration of the great 
utility of the object, and the facility with which the be- 
nefits of the institution may be extended, not only to all 
parts of the British Empire, but to the whole civilized 



34 

world, the donations of the Public are solicited to re- 
lieve it from the burthen of a debt which amounts to 
about 5,0001. a sum which it is hoped will not be con- 
sidered as large, when set against the gratuitous Educa- 
tion of near 7,00(» children in the Metropolis, the Board, 
Clothing, and Training, near 100 qualified Teachers, 
and the many thousands now educating through Mr. 
Lancaster's exertions in the country, to which also must 
be added, the full establishment of a system, which may 
be made effective to the instruction of hundreds of 
thousands, and thereby contribute to the National pros- 
perity. 

On the motion of the Duke of Sussex, and seconded 
by the Duke of Kent, 

Resolved, That the Thanks of this Meeting be given 
to those Noblemen and Gentlemen who have undertaken 
to act as a Committee in aid of the Finances of this In- 
stitution. 

Hesolyed, That these Resolutions be published. 

(Signed) BEDFORD. 



r 



K 



